Dark Aesthetics

“We live in a dark and romantic and quite tragic world.” - Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer

Dark Pagans have a well-earned reputation for preferring dark aesthetics. Not only Dark Pagans but many people show a passion for this ‘dark allure.’ No time of the year is more accepting of dark aesthetics than Halloween, which caps off October. 

 What drives so many Dark Pagans and others to have a dark allure?

Many people who don’t have a dark allure think everyone who prefers dark aesthetics is obsessed with death. Indeed, some have this obsession. However, for many, dark aesthetics help remind us to enjoy life; for one day, it will end. 

According to Jungian thought, dark allure arises out of the Shadow Self. As part of the unconscious mind, the Shadow always speaks in symbols, myths, and dreams. For some, dark tropes and attraction to the macabre and dark subcultures arise out of the repressed desires and traits found in the Shadow. 

However, there are those for whom dark aesthetics are more than manifestations of the Shadow. While it might arise from the Shadow, many use dark aesthetics to access and integrate the Shadow as part of their individuation. In this case, the dark allure encourages personal growth.  

It’s been proposed that the dark allure might have a spiritual origin. The occultist Konstantinos holds that each person is born with a different soul type. There are those, according to Konstantinos, who are innately drawn to dark aesthetics while others find it repulsive. Konstantinos believes that such soul types as dark and light are set during a person’s afterlife before rebirth. 

Obviously, there are many different reasons someone might have a dark allure. There is no one answer. It’s good for each of us who share this dark allure to reflect on its meaning for each of us individually. As Socrates said during his trial, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”